In a conventional camera, a lens drive mechanism is used that comprises an AF gear that drives the lens, an AE gear that opens/closes the shutter blade for the lens, a motor for driving these gears and a planetary clutch mechanism that is swung by rotations of the motor in forward and backward directions, thereby selecting the direction of transmitting the driving force of the motor (for example, see Published Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Hei 9-230428).
In this method, however, the AE gear must be disposed at such a position distant from the AF gear that the planetary clutch mechanism can swing. In addition, the lens drive mechanism must comprise an engaging lever that holds the planetary clutch mechanism at a selected one of two positions where the planetary clutch mechanism engages the respective AF and AE gears selectively, a plunger and core that swings the engaging lever, and a lever returning spring. Thus, miniaturization and thinning of the lens drive mechanism are limited.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a miniaturized and thinned image pickup apparatus and camera circuit section in which the AF gear needs to be slightly moved axially to open/close the shutter blade, and a method of picking up an image of an object using the apparatus and camera circuit section.